Mardithia
Mardithia is a relatively large nation located in south-western Agra, founded in 593 according to the Norin Calender (0 according to the Mardithian Calender) by Thian Marcellus of Majdathia after the conquest and annexation of both the Kingdom of Libor and the Kingdom of Hifest. It is currently a member of the Ingrian League and has close trading relations with other league-members. Government Mardithia is an elective monarchy, the head of state being the High Thian who has influence and power over the Mardithian military as well as shared power with the Senate over foreign relations. The current High Thian is Magnus 'the Old Wolf' Feuertarga. Domestic affairs as well as the Guardians are the responsibility of the Senate and the High Thian is not required to be involved, depending on their preference - it is not uncommon for a High Thian to be actively involved in the day-to-day domestic affairs of Mardithia. In the end, however, the majority of domestic affairs are presided over by the Senate. Mardithia is split into twelve administrative regions. Each region is run by a Senator elected by the Senate and accepted by the High Thian as his regents in their respective regions. This means that Mardithia is an untypically organised and centralised nation. Commands from the High Thian and Senate are usually carried out faster than they would if the administrative regions did not exist. These regions are in turn split into various districts presided over by councils from the community who bring the grievances and needs of the locals to the Regent in order for their to be greater understanding between the central government and the citizens of Mardithia. This has resulted in a more satisfied population and relatively low levels of unhappiness and rebelliousness, despite the social hierarchy (which can usually be overlooked if one becomes is Sajinnary.) A unique branch of the Mardithian government is their highly complex and far-reaching security apparatus, in the form of the Guardians organisation and arguably every citizen belongs to it in one way or another. This organisation acts as a police force to ensure that the law is upheld and crime is kept low. It also has a wing which deals with A-Class criminal organisations, especially the prostitute trafficking crime organisation which has used Mardithia to get prostitutes to other nations. The spies and agents trained by the Guardians to infiltrate and destroy such groups have been largely successful, but these crime groups are not so easily rooted-out, and the battle continues. The Guardians have also set-up a system of training loyal citizens in how to spot criminals or how to report suspicious proceedings. It is a very influential, efficient and effective organisation and corruption within it is unheard of, though recently there have been some very suspicious activities by certain members of the Guardians. Reports have been made on these individuals and steps have been taken to investigate their activities. The Senate, along with the High Thian himself, have appointed five of the staunchest Guardians to investigate, they are to go out and, as the High Thian put it, "purge Mardithia of the filth who plague it." History Pre-Unification History The Treaty of Milburg was signed in 579 between the relatively small and weak Kingdom of Majdathia and the Kingdoms of Libor and Hifest. It was a very harsh peace treaty which demanded that the Thian (King) of Majdathia, Brutus the Old, step down in favour of his son, Marcellus. Both Kingdoms also seized Majdathian lands and reserved the right to freely move their military in Majdathian territory. The other option being complete annexation and the destruction of Majdathia, Thian Brutus had no choice but to accept, and Marcellus became the new Thian. Though it was initially agreed that Brutus would be exiled, Marcellus negotiated for his aging father he managed to convince Libor and Hifest to allow the old Thian to remain in his homeland. The peace of Milburg would last for ten years and would see Majdathia flourish while Libor and Hifest destroyed each other with a crippling war. Marcellus took advantage of the peace to begin reforming Majdathia, building up the military and improving the efficiency of the bureaucratic system. Various large forts were built in key locations and new training methods for soldiers were adopted, inspired by neighbouring nations as well as the fruits of research completed by military scholars on Marcellus' command. This training system remained relatively constant even after Mardithia was formed (see military for further details.) As Majdathia slowly rebuilt itself, the war between Libor and Hifest raged. Both being more advanced than Majdathia, militarily superior and territorially larger, they were not too concerned with the small kingdom, thinking to easily subdue it once they had dealt with the bigger threat - each other. However, as the war dragged on their economies began faltering. Their situation went from bad to worse, yet peace could not be secured, and before long both were in many ways wholly dependent on Majdathian exports. It wasn't until 589 that the stalemate was broken and Hifest finally made a breakthrough against Libor. It was at this point that Marcellus, now with a military more powerful, drilled and disciplined than ever before, approached Libor, offering an alliance and military assistance against Hifest. With no other option, Libor willingly accepting, grabbing at any possibility of escaping Hifestian wrath. It was not long before Majdathian forces were marching against Hifest, and the difference between their military powers became shockingly apparent at their first encounter on the hills of Peskel, east of the Majdathio-Hifestian border. The Hifestian forces were completely annihilated in a battle which is still studied today as a model of the perfect execution of the flanking manoeuvre. Battle after battle, the Hifestian forces pretty much melted before what were usually numerically inferior Majdathian forces. Their weakness was further exacerbated by the fact that vital Majdathian exports were no longer reaching Hifest. Weakened beyond measure and with a people in rebellion, Hifest surrendered to Majdathia within months, and all of its territories were annexed by Majdathia. Recognising this new threat, Libor urgently sought to cement good relations with Majdathia as there was no possibility of waging war against it with Libor so weak and dependent on their exports. A royal marriage was arranged and total peace finally dawned. Or at least between Majdathia and Libor. In what was formerly Hifest, lawlessness had taken root and there was pretty much no economy; the land was utterly crippled. Brigands, rebels and bandits plagued rural towns and villages, and some large cities had even fallen and declared themselves independent city states. In response to this, the Majdathian security 'police' force of sorts was expanded from a simple network of informers and criminal-hunters to a more organised and lethal force, capable of rooting out criminal syndicates and groups as well as penetrating rebel organisations and settlements to bring them down. It took a few years, but order was soon restored and the Majdathian reforms slowly began to take root in the newly conquered lands. In the year 592, Majdathia and Libor began discussing the possibility of a union of their two nations. The negotiations were lengthy and at some points tensions were very high between the two nations, but an agreements was finally reached in 593 and the Kingdom of Mardithia was officially formed. It was agreed that a Senate would be formed to whom senators could be elected from the aristocracy or rich merchant classes. The hereditary monarchy was also to be abolished upon Marcellus' death, to be replaced instead by an elective one to which members of the Majdathian and Liborian royal families could be elected in order to become the High Thian (the king of Majdathia.) Over time the two royal families have pretty much become one Mardithian royal family and the ancient distinction between the two is now only a distant memory. Post-Unification History Since the unification, Majdathia has grown from strength to strength, its military expanding and cities developing in key locations, and with their ascension to the Ingrian League in X year, their power has only been bolstered by the close relations they have developed with their allies. Education has been a particular focus of the Senate, with an excellent level of education being available - to those who can afford it - through schools for those aged from five years to 16, after which a place is available for those who pass an entrance exam at one of ten Institutions of Higher Education and Learning (IHEL's) where one can choose to pursue a particular academic route. In more recent years the Senate has been pushing for increased expenditure on education so that all Mardithians can receive free education to a certain level, though this has been largely met with hostility from High Thian and military elite. Up until 671, Mardithia suffered from a crippling pirate presence in the Mardithian Channel. For decades pirates operating from the island of Trugae had been preying on Mardithian shipping, causing severe losses for the growing nation. In 671 the Mardithian navy, having reformed itself in the previous decades in order to better combat the pirate scourge, launched a concentrated campaign against pirates in the channel, wreaking havoc on pirates wherever they found them. This was all in preparation for a great attack planned on the very source of pirating in the region, Trugae itself, planned for the summer of 672, but delayed a year to the summer of 673 after barbarians on the eastern border razed a few towns, calling for the Senate to concentrate on that threat before dealing with the pirates. In 673, the Mardithian navy successfully attacked and captured Trugae and the heavily fortified pirate city - for there was no other word for it - on the island. The Mardithian navy officials were shocked at the level of organisation of the pirate base as well as its size. It was clear that the pirates had been receiving support from elsewhere, for there was no possibility that they could build such a huge and well-organised base on their own. However, there was no evidence powerful enough to incriminate any particular faction or nation. Trugae was to become a major Mardithian naval base, as well as the most important trading port in southern Mardithia. After its capture, the pirate presence in the Channel was pretty much crushed. Without their safe haven, there was no escape from the wrath of the Mardithian naval forces and pirates were slowlyrooted out and destroyed one by one. By 680 only those pirates seeking after death were to be found in the Mardithian Channel, or 'The Pirate Bane' as the Channel came to be more commonly known. The Guardians have also been built up over the years and are now an organisation so large and complex that it is not certain exactly how far their reach goes. Some even suspect that the tendrils of the Guardians reach even into foreign lands. It has become a well-known myth in Mardithia that, 'where there is one, a Guardian is the second, and where there are two, a Guardian is the third.' Relations with the Galan League are unfriendly at best, and Mardithia has tended towards not dealing with any nations from the league, whether diplomatically or trade-wise. Military Units Sajinnaries – The elite fighting force which makes up the Mardithian standing army, Sajinnaries are trained from childhood to become adapt in all aspects of warfare and combat, as well as strategy and tactics. The greatest strength of the Sajinnaries is their discipline and ability to fight off numerically superior forces with organisation, discipline and superior training and tactics. The Testu-Phalanx formation is the perfect defense against archers and cavalry, the shields preventing any arrows from getting through as the Sajinnaries advance, while the spears jutting out from every angle - giving the formation its trademark hedgehog appearance - ensures that any cavalry charge will meet with failure or more losses than a victory is worth. Able to march quickly and in synchronisation as well as fight with short-swords at close range, while remaining in formation, the Sajinnaries are perhaps the most disciplined professional soldiers in the world. Mounted Sajinnaries – Sajinnaries on horseback, these men are a truly lethal strike force. There are usually five hundred such soldiers in a Regiment at the minimum, though some Saero's prefer more. Their speed and flexibility in battle makes these soldiers vital to any Mardithian army, especially when carrying out the flanking manoeuvres Mardithian strategists love to use. Usually armed with light spears for the charge, which double as javelins when necessary, as well as a sword similar to the short swords used by Sajinnaries, but slightly longer. Like their unmounted counter-parts, these soldiers are able to march in formation and charge together at great speeds without a problem. A usual issue with cavalry is that they usually go off on their own during battles and become largely useless to a commander, however, Mardithian Mounted Sajinnaries have been drilled to stay together at all times and follow instructions even in the heat of battle, usually in the form of the Cornicien's trumpet, making them extraordinarily lethal when they change their point of attack mid-battle. Sajinnary Bowmen – Usually to be found at the back of any Mardithian formation, with Mounted Sajinnaries at the flanks and behind the ranks of Sajinanaries in the Testu-Phalanx formation. While Sajinnaries in the Testu-Phalanx formation need very little protection from enemy arcers, Sajinnary bowmen offer support and can weaken enemy formations further before the front ranks of Sajinnaries engage in melee combat. Sajinnary bowmen can usually become a true annoyance to any enemy general as they rain death on flanking attempts and weaken ranks in the middle of a formation, meaning the front and flanks have no strong centre to fall back on. Disciplined like their mounted and close-range counterparts, there are at least five hundred of these men in any one Regiment, and possibly more if the Saero prefers using them. Training and Service One thousand Guardians from the specialised Loqat - agents who search for children with potential for physical and mental strength - are sent out every five years to find children with potential for a military career, usually five to seven year olds, any younger and they won't learn, any older and it is too late. Each Loqat is expected to find at least ten children with potential over a one month period, searching a particular area of Mardithia, or a particular part of a city. Once these ten thousand children are collected - the parents usually persuaded by the promise that their children will have much greater opportunities in life - they are split into four groups of two thousand five hundred and sent to four different locations: one group is sent to the Iron Fort in the north of Mardithia, which will become their home for the next five years. The second group is sent south to Trugae, to dwell in Fort Trugae. The third group is sent east to Fort Tolburg, and the fourth group is sent to the western coast of Mardithia, to Fort Saknar. For the next ten years, these boys are conditioned physically and mentally. They are subjected to harsh training and discipline. They are allowed no shoes, very few clothes, and are taught to take pride in enduring pain and hardship. Throughout their years, the boys are required to become proficient in all manner of military activities. They are given rigorous strength and endurance training and physical conditioning through endless field and track events. They are taught boxing, swimming, wrestling, javelin-throwing, discus-throwing, and the art of ancient martial combat to make them lethal. A further part of their basic military physical training, are things such as running, long and high jump and carrying heavy packs. They are fed - but it is a weak broth and in quantities only enough to exist, so that they may get used to the hunger and be able to endure such hardships when the time comes, although once a week they are given a filling meal to keep their strength up and ensure muscle growth. Discipline is the word to live by, with terrific punishments meted out if caught performing the most minor infraction. As a part of discipline they are also taught to march. It is seen as a matter of greatest importance that Mardithian soldiers can march at speed, after all, the very heart of the Mardithian Testu-Phalanx formation is in the ability of soldiers to march in synchronisation and at speed. Any army which would be split up by stragglers at the back or soldiers trundling along at differing speeds would be vulnerable to attack, hence right from the beginning the boys are trained to march in line and to keep the army a compact fighting unit on the move, so that it becomes second nature to them and the Testu-Phalanx is allowed to become a truly terrific and lethal fighting formation. For this, during the summer months, the boys are to marched twenty miles each day, which has to be completed in six hours, and they are usually given a day’s break every week in order to recuperate from the intense training. The boys are taught what is needed for them to become great believers in their nation. They are taught to place Mardithia and the people above themselves. They are also cared for by older scholars whenever they are not training, who teach them religion, ethics and generally strengthen their moral wellbeing and their will, usually through strengthening their religious feelings, after all, a man who believes God stands by his side is unstoppable. They are also educated to count soldiers in a formation, read war sagas and sing and recite war poetry. At age twelve the lean and hungry boy is taken from the barracks and made to eat, live and sleep in one garment with no shoes under the open sky for one year, exposed to the beasts and the weather. This yearlong exercise teaches survival and fieldcraft skills that he would need when deployed fighting abroad. From age thirteen until the boy reaches what is considered manhood at twenty the boys play serious war games. These games often leave the contestants dead or injured and would include armed attacks on each other in small groups representing armies. These war games teach small unit tactics, raids, reconnaissance and surveillance, and the art of the ambush. For this they primarily use wickerwork shields and wooden swords. Both the shields and the swords are made to standards which make them twice as heavy as the original weapons. After all, if a soldier can fight with a heavy dummy weapon, he would be twice as effective with the proper one. The dummy weapons are at first employed against heavy wooden stakes, about six feet high, rather than against their fellows. Against these wooden stakes the boys train the various moves, strikes and counter-strikes with the sword. Only once the boys are deemed able enough in fighting against the stakes, are they assigned in pairs to train in individual combat, and eventually, they go on to play the war games, where the best are distinguished from the rest, possible leaders are found, and any who have not improved to the correct level usually meet their downfall. Along with completing the initial training with the sword, the boys master the use of the spear and various other weapons. For this the wooden stakes are also put to use as targets. The spears and other weapons used for practice are twice the weight of the regular spear and weapons. Training is given such importance that even in the worst of weather conditions, weapon drills, exercise and horse riding goes on. At the age of twenty, the boys are men, and what’s more, they are full-fledged Sajannaries (Sa-Ja-Ne-Reez), ready to go out into the world and put their training into good use. The training takes on average, fifteen years, from the age of five/six to twenty, and every five years, a new wave of five year olds turn up at the barracks, so that at any one time there are 7500 boys-in-training ranging from five to twenty in any one barrack. Once they become full-fledged Sajannaries at twenty, the boys have a further fifteen years of service. Each generation that graduates past the barracks becomes a Legion. Each Legion is split into four Regiments of two thousand five hundred, and usually the two thousand five hundred who trained together in one of the four forts form a Regiment. The person who leads a Legion is selected out of five candidates, those being the very best from each Regiment, and one close runner up, through an exercise which tests every aspect of their training and more – martial arts, track and field events, swimming, weapon mastery, tactical and strategic ability, intelligence, religious fervour, charisma – and the one who proves to be the most skilled in all areas earns the role of Lion of the Legion, or Lion. The other four become Saero’s of their respective Regiments, at the command of the Lion, who in turn is loyal to the High Thian and the Senate. The Lion also receives a host of five hundred veteran Sajinnaries who had completed their fifteen years in service and chose to continue on. After the fifteen years in service, the Sajinnary can either choose to retire and get married, living on his considerable wage, or he can choose go into another line of work, such as a political one as part of the Senate (regardless of his previous social class) or an official in some other position in Mardithia, and of course, he can choose to continue in the army, becoming part of the Veteran Sajinnary Corps tied to one of the Lions of a Legion. The final thing a Sajinnary can become is a Great Lion in the Senate, who has power over all the Legions, any Lion of any Legion answers to him and the High Thian, though usually the High Thian is also the Great Lion, it is not uncommon for a Sajinnary to be rewarded with the position if he has proven himself over decades of service. The Rank System The Great Lion – A former Lion of the Legion who has become part of the Senate, and has complete control over all the Hordes at all times, along with the High Thian. All Lions, Saero’s, and Sajinnaries in general answer to this man, not only because he is a Senator, but because he is also a former-Lion himself. Any command from this man must be answered without question, unless there is direct opposition from the High Thian. He holds the right to remove any Lion from his position should he feel it is necessary to do so. Lion of the Legion – There are three of these at any one time, as there are three Legion present at any one time. These are the great commanders of the Legions, who have direct control over their entire Legion and which Regiment goes where and whether a certain move is good or not. A Lion is answerable to the Senate, but more so to the Great Lion who holds the right to remove the Lion from his position, and the High Thian. Seeing as this person has ten thousand Sajinnaries under their control, they wield immense power and authority wherever they go, including the Senate, where the views of a Lion are seriously considered whenever they are put forward. A Lion is also a member of the military elite who act as advisors and the guardians of the High Thian and monarchy against any who would threaten it – even the Senate. Saero – A Saero has direct command over a Regiment, which is made up of two thousand five hundred Sajinnaries. A Saero sees a great number of battles, as he is expected to fight with his Regiment in the battles that the Regiment has. He is also expected to design the strategic and tactical battle plans for each battle. Reports are written by the Saero containing information about any casualties, detailed narratives of events that happen such as battles, and of any Sajinnaries who have distinguished themselves in the battlefield and are worthy of promotion. Saerojin – Each regiment is split into two groups of one thousand two hundred and fifty, each group led by a Saerojin. These act as assistants to the Saero more than anything else, and do not wield much more authority than other soldiers except during battles where they can give orders, and in the design of battle plans where they usually sit with the Saero and devise the best strategy. Other than that, they are normal soldiers, who cannot give any orders out of battle. Saerosan – Each Regiment has a Company of five hundred Mounted Sajinnaries led by a Saerosan and a few hand-picked sub-commanders who help in the manoeuvre of the cavalry in battles and usually change from battle to battle. The Saerosan is usually also part of the group of advisors who helps the Saero form a battle plan, but is largely given free reign over the Company of Mounted Sajinnaries during battle in order to best use the flexibility of the cavalry. Sajinnaries – The elite soldiers that make up the entirety of Mardithia’s army, trained as multi-purpose soldiers who can ride horses with proficiency and use ranged weaponry. While the Sajinnaries at the back of a formation usually carry bows and act as archers, those at the front and flanks display their true strength, which lies in their impenetrable Testu-Phalanx formation, first employed by Thian Marcellus of Majdathia before the Unification. Cornicien – Corniciens exist on all levels of the hierarchy and are usually to be found beside a commander in battle. Their job is to blow the trumpet to deliver the commands of the commander to his respective soldiers. Different Regiments and Companies have their own distinctive sounding trumpet which prevents their being any confusion as to whom commands are being given. This makes Mardithian armies extremely effective at changing strategies mid-battle should things not go as planned.